Manchester United handed major injury blow ahead of new season

Rashford's absence will be a major blow for Solskjaer but the arrival of Jadon Sancho will ease the pain

Manchester United have been handed a major blow ahead of the new Premier League season with forward Marcus Rashford expected to miss at least two months.

The England international has been playing through the pain after being diagnosed with a shoulder injury during the course of last season's campaign. Rashford had a scan two days after England's defeat to Italy in the final of the European Championship to ascertain the extent of the damage.

According to the BBC, it has been decided that the injury is too severe to heal with just rest and will require surgery to fix. The Red Devils attacker is expected to be out at least until the end of October as the injury will need 12 weeks to heal post the operation.

United were hoping Rashford can go under the knife immediately to reduce the amount of games he will miss. However, the surgeon is not available until the end of July, which will see him miss more of the new Premier League campaign.

The 23-year-old made 57 appearances for United in all competitions last season scoring 21 goals and assisting a further 15. Rashford's absence will be a major blow to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who is setting up his team to challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title this season.

Rashford's injury blow came on the same day England international teammate Jadon Sancho completed his medical with United to bring his £73 million move closer. The arrival of the Borussia Dortmund star will ease the burden on Solskjaer, but Rashford's impact on the squad will be missed.

Despite impressing for United last season, the young attacker struggled to have the same impact for England at the European Championship. Rashford played just 84 minutes in total during the entire tournament and also missed a penalty in England's penalty shootout loss against Italy in the final.

Rashford along with Sancho and Arsenal's Bukayo Saka were subjected to vile racial abuse following the trio's failure to convert their respective spot kicks. As the country rallied behind the trio, the United forward apologised to fans for his miss, but refused to apologise for that person that he is.